subject: 2009/03/21_EVA-2 (spacewalk) observations
During a pass of the ISS with spaceshuttle Discovery STS-119 on March 21,
a 77 degrees North maximum pass, there was a spacewalk going on at the port side of
the station,exactly at the P3 truss.(EVA-2)They were installing the unpressurized cargo carrier
attachment system (UCASS).
Note that is was the luck that the spacewalkers were both at the P3 truss.
This truss is a very open structure,you can watch through it,and it appears normally reasonable
dark in images against the dark sky.This increases the chance to see one of the astronauts,
as they can be located in front and behind it and still be visible.
I compared the size of the spot which popped up in the best frames with known dimensions of part
of the solar arrays visible in the image.From live-images from the ISS I approximately know how the
size of a spacewalker compares to these parts.I then concluded,the dimensions of the spot are right.
Note that the full width of the truss isn't visible in this image,due to the particular lighting-angle.
Imaging: 10inch newtonian/ATIK instuments-ATK-2C /manuelly tracked)
subject: 2009/03/21_EVA-2 (spacewalk) observations
During a pass of the ISS with spaceshuttle Discovery STS-119 on March 21,
a 77 degrees North maximum pass, there was a spacewalk going on at the port side of
the station,exactly at the P3 truss.(EVA-2)They were installing the unpressurized cargo carrier
attachment system (UCASS).
Note that is was the luck that the spacewalkers were both at the P3 truss.
This truss is a very open structure,you can watch through it,and it appears normally reasonable
dark in images against the dark sky.This increases the chance to see one of the astronauts,
as they can be located in front and behind it and still be visible.
I compared the size of the spot which popped up in the best frames with known dimensions of part
of the solar arrays visible in the image.From live-images from the ISS I approximately know how the
size of a spacewalker compares to these parts.I then concluded,the dimensions of the spot are right.
Note that the full width of the truss isn't visible in this image,due to the particular lighting-angle.
Imaging: 10inch newtonian/ATIK instuments-ATK-2C /manuelly tracked)
subject: 2009/03/21_EVA-2 (spacewalk) observations
______________________________________________
During a pass of the ISS with spaceshuttle Discovery STS-119 on March 21,
a 77 degrees North maximum pass, there was a spacewalk going on at the port side of
the station,exactly at the P3 truss.(EVA-2)They were installing the unpressurized cargo carrier
attachment system (UCASS).
Note that is was the luck that the spacewalkers were both at the P3 truss.
This truss is a very open structure,you can watch through it,and it appears normally reasonable
dark in images against the dark sky.This increases the chance to see one of the astronauts,
as they can be located in front and behind it and still be visible.
I compared the size of the spot which popped up in the best frames with known dimensions of part
of the solar arrays visible in the image.From live-images from the ISS I approximately know how the
size of a spacewalker compares to these parts.I then concluded,the dimensions of the spot are right.
Note that the full width of the truss isn't visible in this image,due to the particular lighting-angle.
[バンディバ:オランダ]
[Ralf Vandebergh:Neighbourhood of Maastricht Netherlands]
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subject: 2009/03/20 observations of ISS_S1 radiator-damage
During a max 72 degree Southern pass of the ISS on March 20,observing and lighting angle
seemed optimal to observe the damage on one of the S1 radiators.Although I managed
to capture already better and sharper images of the radiators during more optimal passes,
the damage was often hidden behind shade.This particular observations succeeded well.
Here is the final version of this observation in higher quality,as used in the APOD of April 10.
During a pass of the ISS with spaceshuttle Discovery STS-119 on March 21,
a 77 degrees North maximum pass, there was a spacewalk going on at the port side of
the station,exactly at the P3 truss.(EVA-2)They were installing the unpressurized cargo carrier
attachment system (UCASS).
Note that is was the luck that the spacewalkers were both at the P3 truss.
This truss is a very open structure,you can watch through it,and it appears normally reasonable
dark in images against the dark sky.This increases the chance to see one of the astronauts,
as they can be located in front and behind it and still be visible.
I compared the size of the spot which popped up in the best frames with known dimensions of part
of the solar arrays visible in the image.From live-images from the ISS I approximately know how the
size of a spacewalker compares to these parts.I then concluded,the dimensions of the spot are right.
Note that the full width of the truss isn't visible in this image,due to the particular lighting-angle.
Imaging: 10inch newtonian/ATIK instuments-ATK-2C /manuelly tracked)
2009/03/21_EVA-2 (spacewalk) observations
further image-analyses
This is a comparison of the structures visible on the location of the ISS were on March 21 astronauts
were working outside the station to install equipment at the Earth-facing side(UCCAS,see below).
Left you see clearly that the spot of the spacewalker appears strongly tilted on the normal ISS structures.
At the right is an image taken recently(April 29)which shows only the normal structures on the location.
This is the best evidence that we really see a clear sign of the spacewalking activities.
view from Earth -- view from space!
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A view from Space at the same moment as I captured the situation from Earth.
That with only a few seconds time uncertainty!
We see a view from the helmet-cam of spacewalker Steve Swanson.
He sees colleague Jo Acaba working a little lower and next to him at the truss with
the sickle of the Earth at the background. This Earthsickle is actually the departing
daylight which I see from the ground as the twilight in the west. The pass was reasonable
deep in the twilight, with the Earth shade already considerably rising into the East. (35°)
The darkness were I'm standing in, while shooting the Earth-bound image, is the dark area
below right in the picture seen from Space. The astronauts are working at the Earth facing
side, and we see the rectangular shaped back of the white spacesuite of Acaba reflecting the
sunlight, which I see as the bright spot obviously tilted on the general ISS structures in the telescope-image.
How was I'm able to find this moment in the video recordings? Very easy: I took the point of
sunset and the few minutes later showed groundtrack to see were the ISS was. I then calculated
the time back from the sunset moment,which is the same as the point the ISS departs into the Earth
shade,as seen from the ground!
With the addition of the last processed frame in negative, the obviously
tilted position of the detail represending the spacewalker is even more impressive, especially for someone
familar with the view of the station. We now see a better view on the entire P3 truss, with the
Solar Alpha Rotary Joint(SARJ). I think this composition must provide a great technical inside on a situation
captured in a fraction of a second passing with a speed of 28000 km/hour!
STS-119 spacewalker: new interesting processings
It was March of this year when I managed to capture that spacewalk pic. Some of you may remember.
A short summery: During the STS-119 mission to the ISS, it was during EVA-2 on March 21, with the
spacewalkers Steve Swanson and Joe Acaba. They were at the moment of pass over Europe working
at the Port 3 truss. It was great luck they were working on the Earth-facing side, for the deployment
of the nadir UCCAS (Unpressurized Cargo Carrier Attachment System) during the pass.
Exactly at the work-location, a light detail appeared in the frames taken in the best moments of seeing.
Analysing carefully video recording data from the helmet cams of the spacewalkers it became clear the
spacewalker located mostly Earth-faced should be Joe Acaba.
To find out the point of pass over the observing location in the NASA-recordings, the point of
sunset in both the recordings from the station and the observing location was a great help.
The result shown here (attached) is accomplished from new processing of the best frames taken
7 seconds later then the early image, see here: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090410.html
All necessary data is on the image. With some imagination you may be able to see
even the back of the white-suited spacewalker, see the inset.
Take the time to watch it carefully and enjoy!
[バンディバ:オランダ]
[Ralf Vandebergh:Neighbourhood of Maastricht Netherlands]